jen besemer - gorgeous hybrids and recombinant poetry
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Reading at the Book Cellar this Thursday, April 25
TRIPLE PLAY: Join me and my friends for a reading at City Lit Books!
Tagged: The Next Big Thing Blog Interview Project
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I want to teach what I don't know.

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News and Notes

January 2012

On Being Collectible: Artists, Writers and the Secondary Market

Recently I discovered that a copy of one of my early poetry chapbooks is available for sale through a couple of online rare/out-of-print bookselling sites. It's listed variously as a "signed first edition" and as "collectible." At first I was highly amused to see my work classified in such ways, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that the descriptions are accurate. The bookiscollectible; it is not available in brick-and-mortar stores or even on my website.

Big news from Beard of Bees!

My latest chapbook, a collection of visual/collage poems called Quiet Vertical Movements, is now available from Beard of Bees Press!  It's viewable/downloadable free from the press, here.  But I've also linked to it from this site in two other places.  Guess where?

Enjoy!

new video poem

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meaning.wmv
video poem

The "You Said It" Department

I subscribe toBOMBMagazine, and in the current issue (Number 118, Winter 2012) I found something good in an interview with artistJohn Miller.  He makes some very articulate observations on contemporary circumstances surrounding the profession of artist, and the educational approach that (sometimes) prepares people for that profession. Here's the part of the interview that best resonates for me:

The fundamental problem with being an artist is trying to figure out how to use your time and what to do with yourself.

Happy New Year!

Here's a little photo I took called "Redeye." It's my own nod and wink to the new year, in hope of a brilliant if unclear future.  (And hey, if you look really closely in the top lens, you'll see me!)

Some of you might want to know that I have work inBlazeVOX11 Winter 2011, hot off the server today! You can view the issue in its fullscreen glory (and/or download it) here.  I've also included links on my Artist Info and Web Publications pages, for the sake of total redundancy.
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